The Christian Life

As it happens, I am a member of one of the adult Sunday school classes in my church, Plainfield United Methodist.  (PUMC.)  Members of the class are grouped in teams that take turns, quarterly, to teach the weekly lessons.  Most of the time, we teach from "canned" materials:  books with DVDs and leader's manuals, but there is usually a lot of wiggle room to adapt a lesson to the demographic of any particular class group.  When it is my team's turn to teach, I am usually the one behind the book, although we do share the responsibilities.  And, as my former students can attest, I tend to see the inter-connectedness of all things which can take me off on tangents.  I have to remind myself often to get back to a lesson's main point after looking at all of the issues associated with it.

My class consists mostly of retired folks who have raised their families and are quite set in their beliefs.  Some are conservative fundamentalists who take every word in the Bible in a literal sense.  Others are more liberal in their approach to scriptural understanding.  It sometimes makes for some interesting discussions in class.  I am reminded of a scene in the TV show Big Bang Theory, in which Sheldon, who is a quirky scientist, tries to corner his born-again Christian mother in what he considers the absurd stories of the Bible.  He challenges her by saying something like, "Oh come on, Mom.  What did Noah feed the lions in the ark?"  Her immediate response is, "The bodies of drowned sinners, of course."  Funny?  You betcha!  Or is it?

When one is trying to have a searching, fact-finding conversation about matters of faith, it can be frustrating to be met with answers such as this.  The seeker is looking for things that make sense, while the Bible is full of stories that just don't. What separates two people in dialogues such as these is a rift in the basic premise: you are either a believer, or you aren't.  Either you believe in God and believe that the Bible is His unerring word, or you don't believe in God and think that the Bible is a collection of myths designed to explain natural phenomena, like folklore.  Or, perhaps, the latter doesn't know what to believe and is just seeking answers.

Unfortunately, conversations such as this often end in frustration.  People get divided into "camps". The believers, armed with what the Bible tells them, work feverishly to persuade the non-believers in their "truth", forgetting about the flaw that divides them.  If you don't believe in God or the sanctity of the Bible, no amount of convincing is going to convert them.  When cornered with natural facts, many Christians retreat to comments such as, "God works in mysterious ways", or "We are human and imperfect, but we know we are forgiven...saved".  That doesn't help those who don't feel accepted into the faith.

A week or two ago, I happened onto a very intellectual and pointed discussion on a Facebook friend's account.  He is a former pastor/missionary; a very devout and learned Christian.  He has also discovered that he is bisexual, and that has thrown everything in his life into, as we say, a cocked hat. He posted something (right now, I forget just what) to which another of his FB friends responded that he felt the duty as a Christian to point out people's sins to them.  Whaaaat?  Does he really believe that sinners don't know their sin?  It's like telling an overweight person that they are fat. Yeah...so??   Is that announcement something he/she didn't already know?   Will it inspire them to change?  I don't think so.  I chimed into the online conversation saying that I took issue with his heartfelt need to tell others what they are doing wrong makes a judge out of him, when the Master (Jesus, Himself) tells us "Judge not lest you be judged."  His response to that shocked me.  He wasn't as concerned about the sins of others but about how those sins would dilute Christianity.  (And I found that same sentiment in my SS class on Sunday!)

I consider myself to be a Christian.  Why?  I'm not sure.  Even as a child, when I saw the contradictions in life between what we know through science and what the Bible tells us, I would pass it off, choosing not to deal with it in any intellectual way.  I said my prayers faithfully every night, as if they were some sort of magic spell that would protect me from boogeymen and bad guys; then, I would feel guilty if I fell asleep while praying, thinking God would be angry with me for my inattention.  As far back as I can remember, I always believed in God, and in Jesus.  If anyone influenced me in this, it was my grandparents.  My parents weren't church attenders.  I am a Christian because, I think, that's what I was supposed to do.

Frankly, I don't believe some of the stories in the Bible--at least not in a literal sense.   I don't believe there is a Satan, no matter what the Bible says.  There is evil, for sure...but it can't be attributed to anything other than the bad feelings within us.  Yes, even us!  I struggle every time I am confronted with a situation that calls for "What Would Jesus Do?"  What Jesus would do isn't popular politics at the moment.  I am just living my elderly life believing that Right Makes Might.  If things aren't "right", we will fail....right?